Taichung-based Fong Yi Construction Co (豐邑建設), which owns the yet to-be-opened Sheraton Hsinchu Hotel (新竹喜來登), yesterday vowed to more than double its annual property sales to NT$20 billion (US$628 million) this year.
Half of this year’s sales are expected to take place in Hsinchu, the city with the highest ratio of consumer spending to income in Taiwan, company president Chiu Chung-jer (邱崇喆) told a media briefing yesterday from the hotel.
“We’re very optimistic about the growth potential in northern Hsinchu,” Chiu said.
The company has three pre-sale housing projects in Hsinchu, with a combined value of NT$10 billion, one of which, Hsinchu No. 1 (新竹1號), will be completed by the end of this year with more than 70 percent of its 150 units already sold, said Owen Chen (程二文), special assistant to the president.
Chiu yesterday expressed confidence in the company’s decision to tap into the hotel businesses, but said it may take three or more years to break even from the NT$8 billion investment.
About 3.4 million residents live within a one-hour car drive from the Sheraton Hsinchu, a fact that will ensure a basic customer-base for the hotel’s restaurant businesses, he said.
In the next two years, the newly developed district of northern Hsinchu is likely to attract another group of 210,000 new residents after the nearby Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) is expanded and three new universities are established, the company said.
Chiu said he expects the hotel’s food and beverage services to contribute 55 percent of annual revenues and accommodation business to account for the remaining 45 percent.
Sheraton Hsinchu, which sits on a 2,772 ping (9,164m²) plot of land, is sceduled to open on April 3. With a total of 389 rooms between its 6th and 22nd floors, the hotel is offering an initial promotional rate for standard rooms of NT$3,915 per night.
Its 389-room service apartments in the west wing, targeting long-stay business tenants, will likely average above NT$2,500 per night and be available after June, Chiu said.
The company intends to build a 13-story shopping mall, sitting on a 4,700 ping parcel of land, with total floor space of 58,000 ping, at an approximate cost of NT$7 billion, he said, adding that the mall’s lower floors may be open for business as early as 2012.
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